The ENVIBASE-Project

Documentation / Online Handbook

Traffic

Moscow

Description of the Problem

The development of the service sector and growth of business
activities in Moscow have brought a sharp growth in the need for transport. This fact has
resulted in the big increase of private cars, which occupies the leading position in
pollution of the atmospheric air in the city.

From 1980 to 1997, the automobile transport share in the amount
of total exhausts in the atmosphere had increased from 73 % to 87 %. The automobile
transport's share in the total exhaust of carbon monoxide has reached 96 %, of hydrocarbons
- 98 %.

The main reason for such growth of harmful exhausts of the
transport origin was the sharp increase in the number of automobiles in the town. From
1980 to 1997, the Moscow automobiles park tripled and today it occupies about 1,600,000
automobiles. At the same time, the street length has not changed and constitutes 4,350 km
(4.07 km of road per 1 km² of the town territory). The existing transport
infrastructure is not sufficient for such a number of automobiles. The average speed in
the main streets during the peak hours has fallen to 10-12 km/hr.

Among other reasons, the most significant are;

imperfection of most of the operating automobiles in Moscow from the ecological point of view. Automobiles of the CIS and Russian production do not have the standards of the Western Europe;

changes in motor fuel that do not meet the international standards;

the small number of diesel automobiles and automobiles working on gas balloons.

Automobile transport is the main source of noise in Moscow. More
than 2 million people live in the zone of its effect, including: 400,000 people in the
railway transport zone, 300,000 people in the aviation zone, 270,000 people in the tram
zone.

As for pollution of the water basin, the main negative factor is
connected with the river vessels. Annually, the rivers, including the Moscow River, get
about 80,000 tons of harmful impurities from the river vessels and ports.

Automobile transport plays one of the most significant roles in
the above process. Annually, auto transport discharges in the water basin of Moscow are
more than 600 tons of suspended compositions and about 125 tons of petroleum products.

Among the types of transport considered, the most negative effect
on soils is made by the automobile transport. Polluting components come from precipitation
combined with harmful discharges from the automobiles and constitute about 1.0 kg/m³ of the territory per year. Other sources of pollution are represented by the washing out of harmful impurities from the roads and rigid coverings of the automobile stops and filling stations.

Some zones have revealed abnormal concentrations of the
benzapyren and heavy metals compounds along the main roads of the town.

Data Sources

Sources of information concerning the number of transportation
vehicles and intensity of transportation:

automobile transport - State Automobile Inspection of Moscow;

railway transport - Management of the Moscow Department of railways;

water transport - Moscow River Steamship Company;

aviation transport - Federal Aviation Service of Russia.

The main sources of information concerning the atmospheric air quality:

quality of water in the surface bodies of water - Centre of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision (GorSES), Moskompriroda;

soils pollution - IMGRE;

level of noise - GorSES.

Methods

There is no special system of supervision of pollution of
atmosphere caused by the transportation vehicles. But some posts of the system of
supervision MosTsGMS are located near the main roads, which allows one to note the
instrument readings of the concentration of nitrogen oxide, carbon oxide, and
hydrocarbons, the main polluting components in the air. But it is impossible to get a
general condition of pollution of the air from the transportation vehicles because there
are only three posts.

Methods of simulation of the polluting components
dissipation is used for these purposes. This system is approved by the State Committee of
Environment of the Russian Federation.

The method of investigation depends on the correspondent purpose
of the investigation. In the case that the investigation is directed at determining the
potential possible maximum concentrations of the polluting components under unfavourable
meteorological conditions, the maximum occasional limiting concentration will be taken as
the sanitary and hygienic criteria of the atmosphere quality. This method was developed by
the specialists of the main geophysical observatory named by Voyeykov A.I.

In the case of the necessity to estimate the scale and intensity
of permanent effect of the automobiles on the quality of atmosphere during a long period
of time (i.e. one year), the Gausse models are to be used in calculation of the average
annual concentration of pollutions in the over-the-ground atmosphere, for example:
"CALINE." In such a case, the average daily permitted concentration will be
considered to be the sanitary criteria of the atmosphere quality.

Estimation of noise from transport vehicles can be made in two
ways: first, you can use special equipment in accordance with methods used in the Russian
Federation stipulating noise level registration along the transport roads. In the second
case, you can calculate the noise levels depending on the transportation vehicles
flow conditions and characteristics of the adjoining territories.

Volumes of pollutions coming from the automobiles and river
vessels to the surface flow and to the town bodies of water can be calculated in
accordance with the normative documents accepted in this field.

The level of soil pollution can be determined on the basis of the
ground samples geochemical analysis taken along the main roads.

Results

On the basis of the above calculations, a series of maps of the
atmospheric air pollution by the automobiles discharges for each separate polluting
component was made.

The noise map of Moscow shows the noise characteristics along the
main roads, railways, and the zone of acoustic discomfort near the airports. This map was
the result of works directed toward determining the noise condition in the territory of
the town.

Results

Analysis and evaluation methods

Data

inventory maps / cadastral register

Complex summarising / interpolation maps

reference area / resolution / scale

analogical / digital result

calculation steps and spatial depiction

main parameter

Other necessary data

Temporal distribution of
data collection

survey unit scale

Air pollution by traffic through NO (CO, CxHx)

all Moscow, grids and road system
1:100000

3 Digital maps EIS Moscow

Analysis of the average traffic
volume in the primarily road network. Assessment for all additional streets and
summarizing results in 2x2 km grid for the total street network; further parameters for the Emission Simulation. Model are taken into account to estimate the NO2 emissions from
vehicle exhausts and evaporation.